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Saturday, 13 June 2015

‘The Most Moral Army in the World’ Savagely Beats Palestinian Man

You
can imagine what the soldiers who carried out this beating will face when they
meet their commander.A Police probe
with the threat of years imprisonment?Don’t be silly, they’re not Palestinians.A blight on their military careers?Certainly not.That would be far too harsh.

They
will get a smack on the wrists. And
why? Not because of what they did but
because they allowed themselves to be filmed whilst doing it. Imagine a group of Palestinians who had done
this to a soldier. They would be facing
years of imprisonment, torture, beatings and be told that they had ‘blood on
their hands.’

But
rest assured. These soldiers will be
treated as tainted heroes and warned to ensure that in future, when beating Palestinians,
that they take elementary precautions against being filmed.

A Palestinian man is beaten and restrained by IDF
soldiers during a violent demonstration in the Jelazoun refugee camp, near
Ramallah, on June 12, 2015. (screen capture: Palestine TV)

The Israeli military said Saturday it was investigating
the beating of an unarmed Palestinian man by a group of soldiers during a
confrontation a day earlier in the Jalazoun refugee camp, near the West Bank
town of Ramallah.

In a video of Friday’s incident posted online by
Palestine TV, the Palestinian man is seen being repeatedly hit by soldiers,
including one soldier who strikes him near the back of the head with the butt
of his rifle and another who punches him in the face as he lies helpless on the
ground.

The man is initially seen arguing with soldiers, when
one of them begins screaming obscenities at him and proceeds to attack and hit
him. The man does not back down and scuffles with the troops, and the same
soldier then threatens him while continuing to hit him: “One more word and I’ll
f*** your mother! One word! Well, talk!”

The video then cuts to the man being surrounded and hit
by a group of soldiers. While being restrained by three soldiers, he is hit by
a fourth with the butt of a rifle, causing him to fall to the ground. It is
unclear in the video whether he is struck in the upper back, the neck or the
head. He is then punched in the face by another soldier while on the ground,
before his face is pushed into the dirt while the troops appear to cuff him.
Later the man is seen being led away by the soldiers.

According to Palestinian sources quoted by Ynet News,
the man confronted the army forces due to his anger over his home being used by
troops to take cover from stone-throwers, and his family being hit by tear gas.

The army said Saturday it was aware of the incident and
was carrying out a thorough investigation of its circumstances, with military
sources telling Walla News that soldiers had not reported the violence to their
superiors before the video surfaced.

“Those involved will be brought before the brigade
commander tomorrow for a continuing inquiry and investigation, and disciplinary
action will be taken against them if need be,” the army said in a statement.
“According to an initial investigation, it seems the (soldiers’) behavior was
inconsistent with that which is expected of IDF soldiers.”

In the video, soldiers at the scene are seen being
pelted with rocks by Palestinian demonstrators. It is unclear whether the
rock-throwing began before or after the beating of the Palestinian man.

The military said soldiers were attacked by some 50-70
rock throwers in the demonstration at the camp and that one soldier was lightly
wounded. The troops used crowd-dispersal means to break up the protest.

Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces troops on the border of
the Gaza Strip shot and wounded a Palestinian man who approached the border
fence and did not stop despite warning shots fired in the air, the army said
Saturday. The man was shot in the legs and was evacuated by the military to a
hospital in Beersheba for medical treatment.